About Yoga

The science of being human

Yoga is a technology that can be applied in order to appreciate what we call life and to improve the quality of life. It is an exploration into the nature of life whereby one’s own body and mind is the laboratory.

Yoga is not a philosophy, it is a system of exercises and practises that improves the health and function of the body and mind.

For most people, yoga is a generic term used to describe the physical, mental, and spiritual disciplines or practises which originated in and near to ancient India. It grew up with other ideologies and became accepted as one of the six “orthodox” schools of Hindu philosophy.

One of the most detailed and thorough expositions on the subject are the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali and traditions of yoga are also found in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism.

The word yoga means literally means “union” or “to merge”, but it’s more than a just a set of physical postures or exercises. Yoga is a science that can be used to determine the nature of who you are and what you want to be. To make change, one simply practises regularly every day some aspect of yoga and change will come.

Scientific research has shown today that the very fundamentals of the brain’s activity, inner chemistry, and genetic predispositions can be changed by practising certain systems of yoga. So yoga is essentially a technology that can be applied to change who you are.

The path to Yoga was clarified by Patanjali in his now famous Yoga Sutras around 600 BC, about the same time as Buddha. Patanjali described the path to yoga but he was vague about asana and the worldly side of yoga.

There are four broad paths of yoga defined as yoga for the intellect (jana or gnana), yoga for the emotions (bhakti), yoga for the body(hatha), and yoga for the spirit (kriya) which are elaborated further in what are known as the eight limbs of yoga. (Please read the Four Paths by Sadhguru.)

Hatha yoga emerged as a prominent tradition of yoga distinct from the Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras. While the Yoga Sutras focus on discipline of the mind, Hatha yoga concentrates on improving the health and purity of the body.

Hindu monks, beginning with Swami Vivekananda, brought yoga to the West in the late 19th century and in the 1980s, yoga became popular as a physical system of health exercises across the Western world.

Many studies have tried to determine the effectiveness of yoga as a complementary medicine with some success, however there is difficulty arriving at any modern scientific double bind proof as any yoga practise is subjective and deeply affected by unmeasurable elements within the practitioners body – mind.

Needless to say that everyone regardless of their state of health benefits from all elements of yoga exercise.

If you enjoy Sadhguru’s introductory talks and would like to learn more of his teachings, go to http://www.sadhguru.org/ for more information on Sadhguru.